Mesoporous systems for poorly soluble drugs - recent trends

When poor aqueous solubility of active pharmaceutical ingredients is encountered during a drug formulation process, the toolbox typically utilized contains pharmaceutical salts, co-crystals, solid dispersions, cyclodextrins, lipids, liposomes and nanocrystals etc. Especially in the pharmaceutical industry, the option which confers the greatest benefit with the lowest risk is usually chosen. Several factors affect the final decision, but new technologies should also be considered especially if they can address several issues at the same time. Mesoporous inorganic systems are emerging technologies which can be utilized for improving the dissolution of poorly soluble drugs. The number of the scientific papers in this field is steadily increasing and the focus of the studies is moving away from in vitro to in vivo experiments with the first human trial already completed. Meanwhile, several start-up companies focusing on mesoporous carriers have been established. Therefore, it is conceivable that the first commercial products will find their way to pharmacies during the next 5-10 years. The present review surveys recent progress in research on mesoporous materials as carriers of poorly soluble drugs. We will concentrate on the research published since our previous review published in 2012 [10.1016/j.ijpharm.2012.09.008] up to the present day.